Monday, June 22, 2015

Steph's Pick: Brown Butter


So if you've read my blog in the past, you might remember that I have an avid dislike of butter.  Yep, I'm one strange creature.  I promise it's not because it's unhealthy - I totally work out enough to compensate for a least a few tablespoons a week.  It's the taste!  So the even weirder part in this twisted story is that I'm going to introduce a new type of blog post about cooking tips that you can apply to any recipe involving the featured method or ingredient...and my first one is about BUTTER.

What?!

Well, I'll be the first to admit, it sort of, maybe, might, just so happen to be a very necessary ingredient in baking.  Particularly in the recipe I pride myself on the most - Banana Bread!  The recipe calls for a stick of melted butter.  Easy enough, right?  Obviously I know everyone on the planet above age 10 is capable of melting a stick of butter.  But did you know that if you let the melted liquid sit over the heat for an extra 3-5 minutes, you can make brown butter, which develops a nutty taste that can literally triple the flavor of your banana bread batter?  Bet a lot of you didn't, and it's a secret that people who cook a lot or take culinary classes learn the importance of right away!

If you don't cook too often, it might be hard for you to tell if you're making brown butter or straight up burning the butter.  So I wanted to share a picture of what my brown butter looks like.  It's a light caramel color with a few darker brown gritty flecks on the bottom of the pan.  No, these are not burned, it's the nutty flavor!  Use them!  They melt into whatever you're making, I promise!


Whether you use the brown butter technique in a dessert, a breakfast item like French toast or pancakes, the base of a garlic butter pasta sauce, or my favorite, banana bread - it's going to crank up the flavor tenfold!


Oh wait, did you need me to zoom in a little?


Had to finish with the obligatory hipster composition...




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